In association with
Evidence informed commissioning should fit within an organisation’s wider cultural landscape, to become ‘the way things are done’. The organisation’s ‘culture’ represents beliefs, values, practices and behaviour. It is complex and can influence whether an evidence informed approach to commissioning is adopted; it also shapes the form it takes.
A key enabler in the strengthening of an evidence and evaluation culture is good access to relevant evidence; this toolkit can help guide commissioners towards this. Public Health departments within the Local Authority provide expert support in accessing and using evidence and contribute to a growing evidence culture. The Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA) is a key resource that provides an evidence based overview of the changing health and wellbeing needs in your locality. This can be accessed via your Public Health team – see Contact.
This short video highlights the impact of finding and using evidence, where to look to find it and real world top tips, from commissioners and GP Clinical Evidence Fellows working across the West of England.
Additionally, there are a number of key initiatives in place in the West of England that contribute to getting evidence or knowledge from its source and into practice, known as knowledge mobilisation.
Knowledge mobilisation is defined as ‘making knowledge readily accessible and useful to individuals and groups by developing ways to work collaboratively’ (Health Information Research Unit). Simply, knowledge mobilisation is about sharing knowledge, often between disparate groups. A knowledge mobilisation initiative has been trialling in Bristol for three years, developed jointly between Avon Primary Care Research Collaborative (APCRC), the University of Bristol and the University of the West of England (UWE) – this has taken the form of a Knowledge Mobilisation Team but other roles that also contribute to promoting knowledge mobilisation are now being established:
This team foster collaborations between commissioners and researchers to encourage commissioning-informed research and research-informed commissioning. This initiative is led by Professor Nicki Walsh, Professor of Knowledge Mobilisation and Musculoskeletal Health at UWE. Nicki was appointed in July 2016. Her role is to bring together academic, clinical and commissioning colleagues to develop and promote knowledge mobilisation culture across the region.
Researchers in Residence – two researchers from the Centre for Health and Clinical Research (CHCR) at the University of the West of England are attached to the Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs), specifically supporting work in the musculoskeletal area.
NHS Management Fellows – APCRC will soon be appointing a commissioning manager attached to the University of the West of England research teams on a part-time basis, to bridge the gap between commissioning and academia.
Trained to access and use evidence, these GPs provide two sessions per week per CCG, working to promote an evidence culture, signposting to additional tools and resources. Click here to find out more.
These developmental posts work across CCG and Public Health teams, to provide evidence reviews and advice and guidance on service evaluations to support key commissioning priorities. Part of the role is to increase capacity through training of others. They also undertake small scale evaluations. APCRC support four assistant posts – two are currently filled and the recruitment process for the remaining two is under way.
Working on discrete projects, this developmental role supports the CCG and Public Health teams with economic support.
For further information on any of these initiatives, please contact info@nhsevidencetoolkit.net
Use our EvidenceWorks toolkit and this EvaluationWorks toolkit in your:
Service Evaluation
How to apply in practice:
Commissioning Intelligence Model – See: Commissioning Intelligence Model
How to apply in practice:
Review of Evidence: Application
Evidence appraisal (using PICO to focus your questions for evidence searches)
How to apply in practice:
Service Specifications and Contract Formats
How to apply in practice:
Service Evaluation- using this Evaluation Toolkit – Application
Commissioning Intelligence Model: Application
Evidence is the available body of facts or information indicating whether a belief or proposition is true or valid.
Oxford Dictionaries
Evidence based medicine is the integration of best research evidence with clinical expertise and patient values
Sackett D et al
Evidence-Based Medicine: How to Practice and Teach EBM, 2nd edition. Churchill Livingstone, Edinburgh, 2000, p.1
Research can do more than contribute to better decisions – it can change the way we think about issues or problems and stimulate new and different ideas about services. In short, it’s vital to our capacity for innovation.”
Professor K Walshe
Associate Director of the National Institute of Health Research
